Questions and Answer

General

This page last updated - 26Jun16

Q. How do I get my event listed on the 100 Marathon Club web site.
A. Firstly check that your event will meet the criteria of the 100 Marathon Club as counting for our purposes and if you are satisfied that it does then contact us with the following details -
1) Event Name,
2) Event Date,
3) URL of information page
4) URL of entry page (if different)

Q. Does a race require any kind of permit or insurance to be included on the 100 Marathon Club lists?
A. Yes. We require that an event has either a permit which includes public liability insurance from an athletics affiliated organization (England Athletics, Trail Runners Association, LDWA or similar) or a separate public liability insurance policy. Many organizations have similar rules, for example, to be listed in the “Strider” magazine you need to have a permit from the LDWA.

Q. Do “walkers only” marathons or ultras count? A. The 100 Marathon Club is primarily a running club, events where runners are either actively discouraged or prohibited won't be counted (i.e. The Moonwalk series) nor will such events be included in the 100 Marathon Race lists.

Q. If I walk a marathon or ultra then will that count?
A: Yes. Currently The 100 Marathon Club makes no distinction or classification as to the speed that participants complete a marathon or ultra, however, running all, or part of the course must be an available option for participants. Of course you must also abide by the event rules, especially with regard to time limits. We may in the future need to distinguish in some way between run and walked marathons, but this will be purely for club stats, not qualification to join the club.

Q. The marathon has a time limit. What happens if I finish over that limit? A. If the event organizers are flexible and include you in the race results then that event counts. If they list you as a DNF or are simply omitted from the race results then it doesn't count even though you completed the distance, you must abide by the race rules.

Q. If it's on the UK&I marathon or ultra list can I assume that it's a counting event?
A. Yes. The listing isn't meant to be totally inclusive, but if it's on the list it will count.

Q. I ran an event but discovered that they won't be publishing results. Will the event count? A. The 100 Marathon Club actively encourages that results be published and/or certificates be issued as recognition that runners have completed an event. This isn't compulsory however, at a minimum we require that runners be checked in and checked out of an event, this can be either automatically (i.e. chip timing) or manually.

Q. The rules of what defines a marathon have changed. Do I have to recount my marathons or redefine my ultras?
A. No. Changes only apply to future events, there is no retroactive reassessment. When a person joins the 100 Marathon Club the rules in force at that time apply.

Q. Why does the club have a requirement of completing 5 United Kingdom or Ireland road marathons for Associate Membership or 10 United Kingdom or Ireland road marathons for Full Membership?
A. The 100 Marathon Club is primarily a United Kingdom and Ireland running club and it is felt that members should, at some stage, have completed a certain minimum number of road marathons (as defined by the 100 Marathon Club) to maintain that spirit and integrity of the marathon. One of the aims of the club is to promote United Kingdom and Ireland road marathons and this we feel helps towards that aim but without excluding those who prefer to do the majority of the events off road.

Q. With the revised rule that there must be a minimum of 25 finishers for an event to count as a marathon are there any circumstances where the 100 Marathon Club would count an event where less than 25 people completed the event? A. Yes. The 100 Marathon Club recognizes that there may be exceptional circumstances where a person has entered an event in good faith fully anticipating that the event would have 25 or more finishers only to find that exceptional circumstances have occurred and this isn't the case. The 100 Marathon Club will accept a completion of such an event upon request as long as the following criteria have been met.

i) The event was listed on the 100 Marathon Club website as a qualifying event.

ii) There were originally a minimum of 25 people entered for the event.

iii) There are exceptional circumstances as to why there weren't ten finishers. For example exceptionally bad weather conditions, traffic or other health or safety considerations. When submitting race lists the 100 Marathon Club will accept on a members honour the reasons they state for the exceptional circumstances.

iv) It is unlikely that the 100 Marathon Club would list the event again as a qualifying event until reassurances that the event would meet all the qualifications standards again in the future.

Short Courses / Non Qualifying Events

Q. What if an event is short?
A. In the days of personal GPS devices reasonably accurate measurements can be made by individuals. Where a course is found to be short then an individual runner may for his own sense of satisfaction complete the extra distance “off route” to make up any short fall. This however is not mandatory and for the first year that an event is found to be short it will count for 100 Marathon Club purposes.

Where a course is found to be short then the 100 Marathon Club will mention this to the race organizers who we hope will take steps to ensure subsequent years events meet the required distances. If these actions aren't taken then in future years the event won't be listed on our race lists and the event won't be counted.

Q. What if I know in advance that a course is short.
A. Why would you want to run it, if you knew it was short? Where it is known that the course is short then it won't count for 100 Marathon Club purposes.

Q. If the event is advertised as less than 26.2 miles can I run an extra amount to make up the distance to the minimum 26.2 miles?
A. No, this wouldn't count. Where an event is declared shorter than a marathon distance then it won't count no matter the distance you actually run.

Q. Are there any events which are known to be short or their circumstances changed so won't be counted for 100 Marathon Club purposes?
A. Yes. These can be found on the Excluded Events page.

These exclusions will remain in place for each of these events until evidence is provided to the committee that any future running of a particular event meets the required criteria

Q. Are there other events which do not qualify for 100 Marathon Club purposes?
A. Yes. If an event doesn't match our standards for permits etc, these will be listed here.

These exclusions will remain in place for each of these events until evidence is provided to the committee that any future running of a particular event would qualify.

Q. Do LDWA "Group Walks" count?
A. No. Only LDWA events classed as "Challenge Events" can be considered for inclusion as counting events. They handily specify on their lists of events if they are Challenge Events or Group Walks so easy to spot which is which.

Different Marathon Types

Q. What's the difference between a road and a trail marathon?
A. A road marathon will be run predominately on a road/pavement/concrete type surface and been accurately measured to 26 miles, 385 yards or 42195m. A trail marathon is one run predominately on non road surfaces, or hasn't been accurately measured. The key feature for an event to be considered a road marathon is a course measurement certificate stating the course has been accurately measured to 26m385y.

Q. I've entered a marathon, the distance is stated as 26.4 miles, but every yard is on roads, surely that should count as a road marathon?
A. No, if the course hasn't been accurately measured to the “classic” marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards, or 42,195m then the event is classed as a trail marathon.

Q. I've noticed that some of the trail marathons you list are stated as being of “only” 26 miles, do they count?
A. We understand that it is impossible to accurately measure some trail marathon routes so we allow organizers to round down the declared distance to 26 miles. In the majority of these events the actual distance covered is often somewhat more than the declared distance.

Q. I entered a road marathon, but some of it was on trails, should I count that as a road or a trail marathon?
A. As long as the course has been accurately measured to 26 miles 385 yards and a significant majority of the race was road then you should count the event as a road marathon.

Q. I entered a trail marathon of 26.2 miles, but took an unscheduled detour and ran 29 miles. Can I count that as an ultra?
A. No. The declared distance is the deciding factor no matter how far you actually went.

Q. What about a track marathon?
A. As long as the course is accurately measured then this is classified as a road marathon.

Q. I entered a 28 mile ultra, but my Garmin says I only went 26.8 miles, is that a marathon or an ultra?
A. For 100 Marathon Club purposes that would count as an ultra as the declared distance is the determining factor.

Q. An event is described as being a marathon but the distance is declared at 27 miles, is it a marathon or an ultra?
A. Where an event is declared at exactly 27 miles, then that is classed as a marathon for 100 Marathon Club purposes, for it to be an ultra the declared distance must be over 27 miles.

Q. Does the marathon leg of an Ironman triathlon count as a marathon for 100 Marathon Club purposes?
A. Yes. But as it is a triathlon rather than a marathon then it counts as a trail marathon.

Q. An event consists of multiple distances, i.e.. marathon and a 50k, or 50k and 50 miles. Does the “25 finisher rule” apply to each distance or to the event in total?
A. The “25 finisher” rule applies to the event in total. If the combined number of finishers of marathon distance or greater is 25 or more in total then the marathon/ultra will count.

Relay Races

Q. If I am part of a relay team, would that count if I ran over 26.2 miles?
A. No, for a marathon or ultra to count you must be registered to run in a full event as an individual, not as part of a relay team no matter the distance covered.

Q. What about if I ran the first leg of a marathon relay, and then carried on to complete the full distance to keep the other team members company?
A. No this wouldn't count; you must be registered as an individual in the full marathon for it to count.

Virtual Races

Q. Do "virtual" events count?
A. No. For an event to count it must be a real actual event and meet all the criteria of the Club. Virtual races fail these criteria

Challenge Events

Q. What is a Challenge Event?
A. A Challenge Event is timed running event. They have a specified time limit rather than a specified distance to be covered. They must have a minimum time limit of 6 hours to be considered as a counting event for 100 Marathon Club purposes. There is no maximum time limit.

Q. How do I run a marathon at a Challenge Event?
A. You must cover a minimum of 26.2 miles as declared by the event.

Q How do I run an ultra at a Challenge Event?
A. You must cover over 27 miles as declared by the event.

Q. What do you mean as declared by the event?
A. The Challenge Event will have a declared distance to be covered. For example 3.28 mile loops. If you complete 8 then you've covered 26.24 miles as declared by the event and have completed a marathon. What a garmin says or if you did "bonus miles" is irrelevant, its what the race organiser declares is the distance you've covered.

Q. What about the starters/finishers rule?
A. As a Challenge event is a timed ultra then there must be a minimum of 25 starters for an event to count. There doesn't have to be 25 finishers of marathon or greater distance, but there must be 25 starters.

Q. What about multiple or consecutive Challenge Events?
A. Where a Challenge Event has a time limit you can invariably stop before the time expires. However in the event of there being multiple Challenge Events you cannot start another event until the original time limit has expired. i.e. A 72 hour event starts Friday, 48 hour event Saturday and a 24 hour event Sunday. You cannot enter all three events, run a marathon on the Friday, say you've stopped being the 72 hour Event and then start the 48 hour event the next day and run another marathon. Only one Event will count as the time limits overlap.

Ultras

Q. If I run a double marathon, say 52.4 miles, or a 100 mile event, can I count that as 2 marathons or 3 marathons?
A. No. These would be considered as one single ultra, not multiple marathons.

Q. I entered a 50 mile ultra event, but didn't complete it so received a DNF. But I still completed 30 miles, can I count this?
A. No, you must complete the race distance entered for it to count unless the race makes provisions, published in advance as part of the race rules, for entrants to complete a shorter distance on the day. For an event to count the race organizers must publish in advance the point at which the withdrawal can be made and the time and distance covered by entrants covered by these provisions. If you receive a simple DNF then the event won't count nor will it count if the race rules make no provision for early withdrawals over the marathon distance.

Q. I entered a 40 mile event, but the race rules state that I can take a short cut near the end to make the event time cut off and complete just 36 miles, will this count?
A. Yes, the race rules allow for this and as long as the results that are published state that you completed 36 miles in the stipulated time then that will count. If they simply published results showing you as a DNF for the 40 mile event then that wouldn't count.

Q. I've entered an ultra that is 52.4 miles, its laps and the rules state that I can stop on any lap and the results will be published. Will this count?
A. Yes, the rules state that you can withdraw before the full race distance and as long as you complete more than 26.2 miles and the race results state your time and distance then that event will count as a marathon if you complete 26.2 miles or an ultra if longer than 27 miles. However we strongly advise that a competitor completes over 27 miles, so that the event can be counted as an ultra, as the event was always an ultra, not a marathon.

Q. What about timed ultras, do they count?
A. A timed ultra of 6, 12, 24, 48, 6 days or of any other duration will count as a single marathon if you complete at least 26.2 miles, or a single ultra if you complete at least 27 miles no matter what the final distance covered is. If you fail to reach 26.2 miles in the time allotted then the event doesn't count. However we strongly advise that a competitor completes over 27 miles, so that the event can be counted as an ultra, as the event was always an ultra, not a marathon.

Stage Races

Q. What about if multiple stages are over 26.2 miles?
A. If the event contains one or more stages of over 26 miles then each may be counted as a separate marathon (or ultra if over 27 miles) if firstly, results are published for each individual stage and secondly each separate stage can be entered as an individual event.

Q. Give me some examples.
A. (1) The Marathon des Sables, is a multi day event, it has stages of over 26 miles but you can't enter individual days, you complete the whole challenge or you get a DNF. If you complete the event, you can count this as a single ultra (as it has a stage of over 27 miles). If you receive a DNF, no matter at what point, then it doesn't count as a marathon or an ultra.

(2) Two/Three day challenges organized by such companies as XRNG, VoTwo etc. Each daily stage is of marathon distance or longer and each individual stage can be entered separately and results are published separately so really these are two or three linked events, not a single inclusive event. You could enter days one and three, or just day two for example. Each individual event completed can be counted as a marathon or ultra.

Q. Are there any exceptions to this rule?
A. Yes, the committee has decided that the long running Windermere 10 Marathons in 10 Days challenge shall continue to be counted as 10 separate marathons for 100 Marathon Club purposes. The reason we are saying this is that each day is in fact an exact measured road marathon of 26m 385y, still upholding the integrity of the marathon. Other events will only be considered as exceptions if they meet these criteria.

Q. So the same route, organized by different events companies can be classified differently. For example the Ridgeway Trail?
A. Yes. The Ridgeway Trail can be tackled either as a multi-day event, broken down in to three separate stages organized by one company, each which could be entered individually or as one single stage ultra organized by another company.

Q. So if I DNF at mile 85 of the ultra it counts as nothing but I could have taken it “easy”, and done it over three days and counted three marathons?
A. Yes. But different people are seeking different challenges.

Q. If an event comprises multiple days or stages of less than marathon distance but when combined are equal to or greater than marathon distance can that be counted as a marathon or an ultra?
A. No. For an event to count as a marathon or ultra then at least one stage must be of 26 miles or longer.

100 Marathon Club Challenge Competition

Q. What events are included for the 100 Marathon Club Challenge Competition. A. All road marathons in the UK & Ireland in a calendar year.

Q. What about multiple marathon events such as the West of Ireland series?
A. To make it fair for all members the committee has decided to restrict the maximum number of marathons that can be counted towards the Challenge Competition from any one event or series of events to a maximum of three in any one year.